Budget

MANILA — President Benigno Aquino III recited before members of Congress on Monday the benefits of the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Aquino said in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) that the DAP infused P1.6 billion for the training-for-work scholarship program of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), which benefited 223,615 individuals. Of this number, 66 percent representing 146,731 graduates landed jobs. Read more

MANILA (Updated) – President Benigno Aquino III did not hide on Monday his displeasure over the Supreme Court (SC) decision declaring key parts of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional.

Aquino hit the justices for not taking into account the government’s arguments that he can realign funds to speed up economic growth and delivery of social services.

Speaking from Malacañang, Aquino said Section 39 of the Administrative Code of 1987 allows him to use savings to cover for any deficit in the appropriations authorized by the national budget. Read more

INSTEAD of 11 floors, the new headquarters of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Pasay City will only be seven floors as the poll body has used up a portion of its savings for the conduct of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls next month.

“We need to cut our building from 11 floors to seven to eight floors to accommodate the barangay elections… Inuubos namin savings namin dahil diyan,” Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. told the House committee on appropriations during the deliberations on their 2014 budget Wednesday.Read the rest of this entry

WHILE investigation is still ongoing on the alleged P10-billion pork barrel fund scam, President Benigno Aquino III acknowledged Wednesday that there were really people who pocketed the priority development assistance fund (PDAF).

Aquino, who expressed his disgust over the alleged corruption, vowed that this kind of anomaly would no longer be repeated by ensuring penalties for those who would be found guilty.

“There were really people who really took advantage (of the pork barrel). They pocketed the fund. They did not even try to share it with those in need. Who won’t be disgusted on that?” he said in an interview in Mandaluyong City where he distributed relief goods to the families displaced by flooding. Read more

On behalf of the President, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad submitted to Congress the proposed budget for 2014, one day after Aquino’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

“I encourage you to look at this Budget with the will to enact the same with speed and resolve so that our people can be on the road to prosperity. Let this Budget for Inclusive Development enable us to truly serve our people who gave us our mandate. They are the reason why we are all here,” the Chief Executive said on his budget message.Read more

THE government has allotted P8.9 million for President Benigno Aquino III’s participation to the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 9), which will be held in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) from November 5 to 6.

President Aquino and his lean delegation left Sunday afternoon for Vientiane to attend the ASEM 9, his first since assuming the presidency in 2010. Read more